


It feels like magic

by Shadowdianne



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-18 12:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8162666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/Shadowdianne
Summary: Imagine being a witch and having bought a familiar only to realize that the aformentioned familiar transforms itself in a person at night…Or the witchy, magical tale that I couldn't help but write about





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RedDove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedDove/gifts).



The shop smelt like incense with coos and murmurs Emma wasn’t sure she could even identify echoing softly in every corner. Different candles and books covered the walls as the animals wandered from one place to another on their own cages and boxes. All of them seemed to stare at the group of three that had entered the little place while trying to be as silent as possible, the light from the street at the other side of the thick wooden door dimming considerably once inside.

Emma twisted the cord that circled her right wrist as she eyed her surroundings, her mind going back to the potion she had left brewing on her apartment before the tall brunette woman that was preceding her had decided to ally with her son in order to make her peer outside the little flat. Who the heck still thought that familiars were needed? The idea made her groan and think back on her days as an apprentice in the system. Cats or birds, even snakes or rodents, were considered a good choice for a familiar but she had never got one and after years of being on her own an animal now seemed… pointless.

“What do you think of cats?” The voice of her son reached her from some place at her left. The shop, albeit tiny outside, was definetely enchanted to look bigger on the inside and the blonde needed to narrow her eyes in order to distinguish the boy between the books and rags that floated over their heads. The atmosphere was eerie and old-looking and the blonde found herself wincing at it, the magic of the place thick and heavy on her tongue.

“Yes, your mother seems like a cat person” Ruby said now at Emma’s back, making the blonde witch roll her eyes as both her best friend and son pushed her towards the cages that stood at one corner of one of the alleys that seemed to be the only system the shop had to keep everything in place.  Some of the inhabitants of the cages looked at her intently while others stared at their pawns seeming not invested at all on the three humans that were now eyeing them.

“Well, is an easy choice” The boy added. Emma hid a tired mutter and returned to her annoyed mood when she realized that she was indeed about to buy a familiar like some starred-eyed teen.

“I don’t know why I should pick up one. You don’t have a familiar.” She had tried to argue when Ruby had talked with her about it. The lanky woman had just stared back at her with one arched brow as Henry had prepared the portal for them to appear on the magical market. It had been a meek try, Emma had known that, but she really hadn’t think on anything else.

“Because I’m a werewolf” Ruby had explained like it wasn’t the hundredth time they were having such conversation “And you know that familiars are supposed to enhance the magic of a normal witch, or sorcerer. I don’t need it”

“Me neither”

Which, albeit stubborn, was partially true. There were potions now that helped the witch or magician in order to achieve greater powers. The use of familiars after those had been invented had definetely dwindled and familiars were now not considered as important as they had been back in the Middle Ages. Still, and Emma knew that Ruby was right on that one, familiars were loyal, a true companion through the witcher’s live. They were catalyzers of not only power but hexes and depending what branch of magic the sorcerer or mage were keen on they could channel energy way faster than any other potion or object ever could. Not owning a familiar had become more common but that didn’t mean they were considered to be obsolete.

Emma already had had a conversation with both Ruby and her own mother about refusing to accept a familiar back when she had reached adulthood almost 15 years ago. She hadn’t wanted that kind of responsibility in that moment. Which had proven to be an ill-timed thought a few months after that when Henry had been conceived. Either way she had started a family without a familiar to protect the house and that had been in itself something apparently worrisome enough for her mother to step in and start meddling in her life once she had reappeared on it almost a decade ago.

Sighing and returning to the present Emma kneeled and stared at the five felines that were in the boxes, different set of eyes returning the stare intelligently. Familiars were supposed to be cunning, resourceful. That was why cats were preferred over any other animal; they were considered wise and many famous magicians and witches had had cats as companions. Nibbling on her bottom lip the blonde witch shook her head in defeat and moved her hand towards the boxes.

The cats didn’t move a muscle as she approached them and just the one nearer to the box wall seemed to breathe as she rested her fingertips on the surface of the box, the copper that protected the object from hexes feeling cold and almost thrumming under her touch.

A white cat hissed warningly.

“I don’t know if this is going to work…” Emma started, looking at Ruby who had taken a step away from the box. Werewolves hated cats almost as much as felines loathed them. The smell of both species repelled the other and the lanky brunette had her nose buried deeply on a handkerchief, Henry standing at her side with his eyes wide open, apparently keen on seeing what his mother was about to do.

He could be a teen but the child-like wonder was still there, something Emma would have find adorable if it hadn’t been for… well, everything.

“Hen…” She started, only to yelp in pain as she felt something biting on her fingers. Brownish eyes looked back at her innocently when she turned towards the cage, her hand curled close to her chest- Four of the five cats were now sitting on the far end of the cage and only a black feline was left near Emma’s fingers had been, one of them now sporting a minuscule wound. “You little shit” The blonde witch murmured under her breath, trying to distinguish something else about the cat apart from its eyes and fur color. The long, lean tail of the feline seemed to move and sway and when Emma’s eyes followed the movement she found a haphazardly written note at her right in where the warning of _“Do not touch the animal’s cages”_ was displayed.

Uh, strange.

The cat seemed to lose interest on her as fast as she finally moved away from the cage and turned its back towards her, moving to the other four that immediately left a space for it, seeming to respect its presence. Curious, Emma followed the movement with her gaze, the sudden pain she had felt momentarily forgotten.

“Fascinating creatures, aren’t they?” An elderly voice startled her.

Standing up as quick as she was able and strangely feeling like a kid who had been caught on the cookie jar Emma found herself staring to the cold, calculating eyes of who she guessed would be the owner of the shop, Mr. Gold himself for what it was displayed on the front of the wooden door. The man, slightly shorter than her, had the kind of aura Emma always hated- sleazy and cold- The telepath on Emma shuddered as she found her inner thoughts seeming to be stared at from the other side of the man’s pupils.

“H… Hi” She stammered, looking towards Ruby and Henry in help only to discover them pretending to be deeply interested on some rats at the other side of the alley. Little traitors. Nervous, she closed her injured hand at her back and motioned towards the cats, the felines seeming now to be moving as Gold approached them slowly, a limp dragging his steps. Emma realized that the clothes he wore seemed to divert any light that could be inside the shop and frowned at the detail, the magic the fabric expelled clouding her mind for a second “Are you talking about the cats?” She finally stammered.

“Of course” The man promptly answered, smirking lopsidedly as if Emma had made a joke instead of a question. “Cats are always the best kind of companion. I’ve always found their intelligence to be quite enchanting”

“I guess” Emma replied, the pain on her finger seeming to grow as Gold turned his gaze back at her, the cold feeling she felt grazing the back of her neck making her shudder. The man was definetely not on his right mind. “I was only watching though…”

“She is searching for a familiar” Came Ruby’s voice, a sudden grip on her shoulder making her remember who she had actually come with. “We were hoping for her to pick one of those”

The old man arched a brow at such information, his eyes turning from calculating to distant as he took notice on the slightly glowing eyes of Ruby, the ones that betrayed her nature. Emma felt the grip on her shoulder tighten as they both waited for the men to speak.

“You are certainly older than what I normally receive here for that” He finally said, his focus changing to Emma once more and prompting a sigh from the blonde.

“I know, that’s why…” She tried to explain herself once more, this time being cut out by Henry himself, the boy smiling from the side of the black rats.

“She is here. We’ve been told that you own quite a selection, right?”

Sometimes Emma wondered if the manipulative strike of her son was from his father’s side of the family. Certainly it wasn’t hers. Seeing how the demeanor of the men changed from coldly interested to sincerely amused Emma swallowed her pride and allowed a little victory to both Ruby and Henry; they certainly didn’t seem ready to take a “no” for an answer.

“A cat is certainly an easy companion; they can be unpredictable of course” The man admitted with a dismissive nod, as if such information wasn’t interesting or worth any more explanations. “But they are also loyal. Owning the trust of a familiar like them is quite profitable for the mage in question at the end.”

Emma eyed the felines from the corner of her eyes, her eyes falling on the black one, its sleek form and intelligent eyes seeming to beckon her. Licking her bottom lip, she considered her options knowing full well that she wasn’t going to be able to escape without a cat at her side. Which, being completely honest, was it that bad to have a familiar? They certainly were helpful and the constant refusal of having one certainly didn’t help her in the long run. How many times she had wished for being able to spend a little more magic? Potions only helped her until one point.

Nodding to herself the blonde eyes the man and shivered, the same feeling of coldness and strangeness than before seeming to take hold inside of her as the man nodded alongside with her.

“I will get ready the papers for you then Miss…?”

“Swan” Emma replied, the surname rolling out of her tongue easily.

“Very well, pick up the one you like most then Miss Swan”

-.-

At the end it was the black cat the one the blonde picked up, her eyes -since she learnt from Gold that the cat was indeed female- seeming to bore on her when Emma had tried to pick up the white one that had hissed at her the first time she had come closer to the boxes. The animal, slender and strong as for what she could distinguish between the well-cared fur she sported, seeming to not like one bit being picked up and transported from the box to one slightly smaller. The black feline seemed difficult and -as Ruby pointed out, nose safely returned to her handkerchief- slightly odd with the way her pupils seemed to focus intently on everything around her but Emma surmised that if she indeed was going to have a familiar the black cat seemed as good as any other and she kinda enjoyed the idea of having one slightly complicated and not like the fat one her mother owned; far too placid to even do anything by itself anymore. She wasn’t a placid person and enjoyed the rush and danger her job brought with her, having a cat as mercurial as her didn’t seem like a bad idea.

The transaction had been made quickly and without any other odd comments from Mr. Gold. The man seemed pleased enough when she had paid for the cat. “She is quite an interesting one” He had said with a smirk and something that seemed to be a wink, his eyes looking as if they were glowing very much like Ruby’s but with a mauve glow on them. The glow was gone as soon as Emma had tried to focus on them though so the blonde had let that one go; “Remember though to keep the collar on her as it’s the only way to know where she is all the time. Cats like to wander after all”

It was precisely that leather collar that was almost covered by the strong thick black fur of the cat -still without a name since Emma didn’t know what she could call her- the one Emma was eyeing. The travel back home had been quickly and easy and Henry had disappeared on his room as soon as the three had arrived to the apartment just in time to see how the tracking potion Emma had spent almost all the previous night on disappear in a cloud of smoke and acid. Ruby had winced and the cat had mewled from inside her box as the smell of the burnt potion had reached her nostrils. Emma had sighed deeply before closing her eyes, letting her body relax before she casted a charm with a wave of her hand, the telling grey color of her magic already swirling of her fingers as she did so. Tracking potions and spells were complicated and volatile, at least it hadn’t destroyed the entire apartment.

Now, sitting at her kitchen table and eyeing warily her new companion her eyes came once and again to the collar; heavy and old-looking the newcomer seemed uncomfortable with it, the brown eyes of the feline eyeing everything from inside her box, apparently not wanting to move a millimeter as long as Ruby was on the near vicinity for the way she mewled every time the lanky brunette came close to her.

“She is as temperamental as you are at least” Ruby was saying, a cup of tea between her hands, the flask she had poured whiskey to it still on the table between them. “You both will get along”

Emma raised a brow, her hands nervously playing with the cord at her wrist, restlessly. “I still don’t understand why you have insisted so much on this. I’ve been perfectly well without a familiar before”

From the corner of her eyes she saw how the cat’s ears seemed to perk but thought nothing to it.

“Because” Ruby said while taking a sip from her tea and wincing at the already cold beverage. “We both know that you will get lonely once Henry goes to the Academy”

“This is not the first year he is going, and the previous ones I was fine”

“Not as fine as you would want to be.” Ruby declared patiently, the cup dinging as she put it back on the table’s surface. “Your magic is emotion-based; you need to stay focused. Do I need to remind you all the times you appeared on my house injured because some mage or other had managed to hurt you? You aren’t focused when Henry is out of your sight, you know that”

Emma narrowed her eyes; it was true though. Henry was a topic even now she didn’t like to discuss and her love for the kid was almost overruled by her fear of not being the mother almost everyone had thought she wouldn’t be able to be That, however, wasn’t a strong enough reason for her friend to push the whole familiar thing.

“Besides” Ruby added as if sensing that she was going to be fought back. “Having a familiar is not something as worse as you make it to be. I know you have your reserve on using magic but, Emma, magic is part of who you are, not using a familiar in your line of work…”

“I know, it’s only something that goes against myself” Emma finished her friend’s sentence as she hunched forward, elbows on the table. It was another truth after all and Ruby knew that all too well.

The brunette smiled as she stood, moving closer to her friend and giving the blonde a one-arm-sided hug that lasted a few seconds. “Just try it, yes? Henry will be gone in a week after all. You already have her, you just need a name”

“You know how much I suck at this” The blonde joked halfheartedly “If it hadn’t been for you Henry would probably be called after that pastry I loved eating during the pregnancy”

They both chuckled at the memory as a hiss was heard. At that Ruby gave a few steps backwards and tilted her head towards the rumbling box “Seems that she is already protective of you. I will be out for a few days; Mulan wants me to help her with an object. Will you behave?”

“I will try. And tell Mulan to keep an eye on you, will you? Is not easy to find a curse-breaking werewolf to keep me company”

“You are forgetting sexy.”

And with that and a final glow Ruby was gone, the remains of her magic, far more rich on smell and taste, filling the kitchen.

At Emma’s feet the cat growled eliciting a small smile from the blonde’s.

“Well… seems that we have been left alone, right buddy?”

Her words were met with silence and when she looked at the box she found herself being stared by the cat’s intense stare. Shuddering at that and feeling somewhat scolded by the feline she tried to pick her up with no avail. The cat refused to be lifted from her box and Emma gave up after being bitten a total of six more times as she tried to grab the feline’s lean body.

“Fine, suit yourself” The blonde finally mumbled while flexing her fingers, new red marks now marrying them. “You are a royal bitch uh? Perhaps I should call you that”

The cat threw a nasty stare on her direction and, with an elegant leap, jumped out of the box, her paws doing a soft sound against the floor that almost got swallowed by the tiles. Arching an eyebrow at the sudden movement Emma shrugged and eyed the collar once again just like she had been doing before. It seemed constricted and even if she still doubted that the whole thing with a familiar was going to work the leather strip was something that indeed put her nervous.

“Ok…” She whispered to herself as she crouched in front of the cat, eyes focused on the quick paws of the animal that had already inflicted on her enough damage. “I will do something before we get to decide your name, all right?”

_“Now I’m talking with a cat, just great”_

Her mother would probably be jumping excited and happy to see her daughter following her steps but that was something for another time and Emma didn’t exactly want to think about her in that moment.

“Easy there…” She mumbled, her hands coming closer to the cat’s neck whose tail seemed to move warningly for a second before white fangs were shown on the feline’s cat. “Hey! I just want to take your collar off okay? I never enjoyed the whole thing of being spied on and I won’t have a familiar with one of those. So just let me take it off and don’t bite my fingers for it. How about that?”

The cat’s eyes narrowed as if she was weighing her options and Emma felt herself strangely being stared back by an angry and very human-like animal. Swallowing and waiting for something that didn’t seem to be a warning she got a small and slow movement from the feline that seemed to be something eerily close to a reluctant nod.

“Okay, just… be still” She murmured, rolling her eyes at herself for keeping with the chat. Yup, she was going to definetely end up like her mother.

At the daunting perspective she focused herself back on the collar, the worn out surface now below her fingers, the satin touch of the cat’s fur a strike contrast on her skin. The clasp for the collar was easy to take off and in no time the leather strip was resting on her lap, the cat still eyeing her, still as ever as if she was still thinking about something.

“See?” Emma reacted after a few seconds of silence “Told you I was just going to do that. Now I need a name for you… I will try to not call you Whiskers.”

The cat’s growl was strong enough for being a pretty good indicative of what she didn’t want. Almost smiling to herself the blonde bite the corner of her lip, her green eyes taking on her surroundings as if she suddenly realized how late in fact it was. Goodbye to her options to actually make a decent tracker before the next day and she needed the money a fugitive from magic justice could give her. Shaking her head and glancing one more time to the unnamed cat she decided that, for now, she would go without a proper name. A better decision, she said to herself, her hands already going back the cord on her wrist, since an unnamed familiar didn’t link themselves as strongly with the ones they were supposed to protect than ones that already had a name.

Not that Emma was already thinking on abandoning the cat, not after getting her collar off, but she always wondered.

Or that’s what she thought at least.

Scratching the nape of her neck, blonde tresses getting tangled on her fingers, she decided to let the whole thing pass, for now.

“Henry!” She called raising her voice and almost chuckling at the startled expression the eyes of the cat got, almost like a human jumping out due to a sound. “Kid, come here and help me with the dinner!”

A grumbling response came a few seconds before and the far too tall if anyone wanted to ask Emma teen came out of his room, small stains of ink on his fingers, ones he quickly proceeded to clean with the ragged cloth the blonde threw at him.

“I was practicing” He defended himself quickly before looking at the cat and smiling at himself. “Got a name?”

“Not yet” Emma deadpanned turning towards the fridge and peering inside. Other mages and sorceress preferred to create their meals with the only aid of magic. Emma preferred the mortal, usual and far slower way. Henry hummed once, his eyes taking on the now abandoned collar on top of the kitchen, and moved towards the blonde, a cocky brow raising on top of her left eye.

“You know that you need to name her, right?” He asked as Emma started to chop the vegetables they were going to eat. Having a sweet-tooth herself she had needed to actively train herself for cooking something that didn’t include far too much sugar on the diet. The pay-off had certainly overruled the first few burnt meals.

“I know” She said with a sigh already escaping her lips before she eyed the feline. The cat seemed to have taken into exploring the kitchen, her long tail moving swiftly as she walked through the kitchen a few times, the deep brown eyes she had seeming to bore on every detail. “I just want to pick up one that doesn’t suck”

It was a feeble excuse but Henry hummed, apparently deciding to believe it.

“How about a name of a Sorceress?” The boy finally said as Emma started to get ready the pieces of the yet uncooked meat she had found inside the fridge. “Those are quite popular, and it suits your line of magic”

The kid, of course, was right. Emma didn’t use objects in order to achieve her potential -not exactly- but the line of magic she work with was deeply tangled with the ones of a Sorceress. All illusion and raw magic.

“I don’t know if she is a Morgana kid…” Emma answered with finality, the first smells of the meal reaching her nostrils as she talked. Apparently either their voices or the smell seemed to have picked the cat’s interest because she stopped seeming to judge Emma’s kitchen state and turned, walking as regally as a member of royalty, towards the source of both food and sound; Emma.

“I think that at least she already likes you” The boy replied with an obvious satisfied smile plastered on his face. “She isn’t biting you anymore”

Emma frowned at that, indeed curious for the change on the cat’s behavior.

“No, she isn’t” Conceded at the end wondering if the collar had had something to do with it. Perhaps it did, she considered; Gold hadn’t seemed to be a man that actually cared a lot of his animals, the collar may as well have been bothering the cat for a while now and thus her grumpy state. “But stop with it kiddo, once I find the name for her I will name her, promise”

The boy grumbled something that seemed to be how unfair that was and turned, setting the table for two and a small cup of water and another for food Gold had given them as long with the box and the strange feline at the foot of the table. Familiars were known for being able to feed themselves but it wasn’t a bad idea to encourage them to eat, especially after being new on a witch or mage house. The cat, however, sniffed the food and growled, the moment seeming so close of a person wrenching their nose that Emma bite down a laugh. The cat was certainly a diva.

Dinner was spent with both mother and son talking about the Academy and the year the boy was going to attend to on it. Being an almost full-time schools Academies were many and diverse not only across the country but in the whole globe as well and it was usual for new magicians to learn there the basics of magic for four years straight before deciding on taking higher education on the specifics they either wanted or needed. A Necromancer of course would never be able to do the same thing as a Healer after all. Henry was passionately discussing his interest on starting a few of the new lessons he was going to take when the cat -Emma was starting to seriously wonder Morgana on her head- jumped into the table in two powerful jumps and purred contently as it took a dainty bite of the rests of the meal that both mother and son hadn’t touched.

“Well, she is hooked” Henry exclaimed while giggling, the cat’s ears trembling to the sound but the feline overall not flinching like she had done before. “She is eating your food!”

“Don’t be a smartass” Emma proclaimed while trying herself not to gloat. “But yeah, she seems to like it, doesn’t she?”

Henry smirked at that and shrugged. “You sure you haven’t hexed her or something?”

The blonde rolled her eyes at that before smacking her son’s right arm over the kitchen table, moving it close enough of the cat for it to jump mildly, still somewhat skittish.

“I’m thinking on naming her like a place” She finally said, not entirely too bothered by the familiar’s antics and more amused than puzzled anymore. Henry was looking at the cat as well, his eyes possibly taking notice on more things like Emma’s like they usually did. The boy’s raised brow, however, made the blonde witch to bit her lower lip, unsure of her idea. “No?”

“I don’t know” Henry replied while focusing on the cat, his right hand moving ever so slowly towards the feline’s neck. “She doesn’t seem like a cat that can be called Arizona”

“I was thinking Tallahassee” Emma replied with a pout clearly visible on her lips. The movement alone made Henry chuckle before he shook his head.

“I don’t know…” The car had turned her eyes towards Emma and the blonde felt once again being judged by the feline. “She doesn’t seem to like it” The boy pointed out with something close to a laugh escaping his lips as Emma shuddered and nodded, admitting defeat.

“No Tallahassee” She surmised while standing and picking the plates and glasses. Old habits died hard and cleaning without magic, or at least these kind of things, were details she still did. Henry stood as well and helped her as quick as possible, names still coming out of his mouth from time to time, all of them being dismissed either by Emma or by the cat whose hiss was something Emma was slowly starting to think was the only real sound the feline could produce.

Finally, after talking some more with Henry about the upcoming classes the blonde left the teen and went to her own bedroom, the space almost being taken by dozens of trinkets and objects, both mortal and magical in nature. The only place in the apartment where she actually let magic come freely to her.

Throwing the collar on top of several books of spellings and one of how you could trace a person over the internet the blonde turned towards the books she had left half-opened that morning, before Ruby had entered and practically obliged to follow her in that man’s shop. The books were still displaying the tracker potion she had been trying to re-create and the thought of needing yet another day for the potion made her sigh. Perhaps with the aid of the cat… the still unnamed cat…

Biting her bottom lip Emma picked up the dark-rimmed glasses she had left on top of the pillow and bite on them for a second before putting them at their place over her nose, her eyes blinking slowly as she became accustomed once again at the lenses. She really didn’t have any more days, not at least for her to lose her time with a potion. Perhaps if she used a fairy ring…

“Mew”

The gentle sound, something far softer than what Emma had heard over the entire evening, made her pause and look at her feet where the cat, as regal looking as ever, was looking at one of the many books she had open at the floor, her eyes seeming to follow the words that covered the pages, her tail moving contently as she did so.

“You are really strange” Emma muttered as she seated at the bed, her right hand scratching her neck as the cat kept… reading? the book, her eyes never leaving the pages. “I guess I will need to decide your name tomorrow…”

The cat mewled and scooted closer to the book, her paws almost touching the pages now, as if wanting to read further. Frowning and not entirely convinced that this was how familiars worked Emma picked up the book and put it over her legs, the cat mewling at the movement and jumping to the woman’s bed in one quick movement.

“Okay, okay” The blonde said once before focusing back on the book, her brow quirking as she saw the transfiguration techniques that were displayed there. “Interested on this?”

The cat blinked twice before focusing on the pages once again, her tail swooping from one side to the other slowly as she did so, apparently waiting for Emma to keep reading with her. Or perhaps not.

Frowning, the blonde decided to let the cat rest on her mattress, her eyes already half-way dropped and her intent of finding something in order to help her search for her new job all but forgotten.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma groaned as she opened her eyes, her glasses now crocked over her face. Blinking while trying to regain control of her still deeply asleep-induced body she remembered having being reading before she passed out; the book she had been looking at now on the floor a few meters away from her. She was facing the door of her room, still halfway open as the cat had left it hours before. The light coming in from the window of the room was dim and dark and she licked her dry lips while trying to pinpoint how long she had been asleep.

Considering the stiffness of her limbs long enough for her body to ache and so she groaned one more time while remembering the times where she had slept in her car. Those times seemed further from the present every day it passed and she couldn’t exactly say she missed them. Her musings about cold feet and even colder mornings where cut short when she felt another body resting at her back, something certainly human-like.

In the dim light of the room, and due to the dizziness of having just awoken, her tired mind needed a few seconds to realize that Henry was far too old now to sneak inside her room as he had done back when he had been younger. In fact, it had been ages since the boy had even peered inside the place. Frowning and rubbing her fingers over her eyes she yawned as she turned, her back protesting slightly as she opened her eyes once again, wincing as she felt her pupils adjusting once to the darkness of that particular corner of her room. What she saw, however, was enough for her sleep to dilute like one of her potions.

In the further corner of her mattress, barely covered with the rumpled sheets, a naked woman laid completely asleep, eyelashes fluttering as she rested. The woman’s soft-looking black tresses covered half of her face and for a second Emma was transfixed, not knowing what to do with such sight. However, her instincts took over and as she jumped backwards -her still partially numb legs protesting when she put weight on them- she grabbed the cord that adorned her wrist, canalizing her powers as best as she could.

The woman certainly didn’t seem dangerous but it was still strange to find someone on your bed when you certainly can’t remember the last time you were with someone.

Before she could speak or even mumble a quick hex the woman’s body stirred, black eyes opening lazily as she did. The shift she had created on the mattress when she had leapt backwards must have been noticeable enough for the mysterious woman to wake up. Swallowing tightly as more skin was exposed due to the shift, Emma focused solely on the brunette’s eyes who blinked sleepily before frowning, a sudden realization seeming to fill them for a second before she hastily raised her hands in front of her eyes, her mouth partying in what Emma wasn’t sure what exactly was, if surprise or anger.

“What the fuck” She breathed out, the sound making the woman focus on her, her movements quick and skittish, as if she was still trying to locate herself.

“You…” The woman whispered, apparently unfazed by her nakedness. Emma had barely a second before the woman attacked her, hands first and a look of utter rage dancing on her pupils. Barely being able to duck, Emma turned to her left and grabbed the woman’s wrist, the woman’s teeth clashing as she closed her mouth barely a few inches away from her.

“What are you? What are you doing here?” The blonde asked in a rushed whisper, still unsure of what to expect from the mysterious woman. The cord at her wrist made her suddenly overheated skin to tingle, her magic seeming about to pour down her arm as she held onto the stranger, the brunette’s face covered in shadows as Emma eyed her.

“I have some questions of my own” Replied the woman forcefully as she moved backwards, her wrist escaping from Emma’s vice. Seating on the edge of the bed the woman moved her hands in tiny circles, eyeing Emma while doing so. “Has anyone ever told you to have better manners?”

“Because attacking someone when you are on their bed is perfectly reasonable” Emma quipped as she crossed her arms, silently pleased as she realized that due to her position she could tower the other woman. Which, considering what had just happened, could certainly be an aid.

The brunette seemed to blush as her eyes wandered from Emma’s to the floor, her position shifting slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, the movement casting shadows and making Emma remember the actual predicament of the other woman. Blushing herself the blonde run a hand down her hair as she tried to elucidate what to do next.

“I admit that wasn’t the most intelligent thing to do” The words came out as a mutter and Emma needed to strain her hearing in order to pick them up but as she took on the still confused glint on the other woman’s eyes she hummed, her brain starting to put the pieces together.

“So… you don’t want to kill me”

“No” The brunette replied swiftly. “Not yet at least”

The answer held a threat as well as a joke and Emma decided on focusing on the slight smirk she could see on the other woman’s lips as well as in the second option.

“Would you want to… uh…” She said, blushing as she pointed in the general direction of the naked woman. “To grab something? Maybe there is something I can lend you”

The situation was bizarre but she had certainly seen quite weird things before on her line on work and the woman didn’t seem murderous. Just lost. Licking her lips as she tried to do her best in order to not see how the other woman’s pupils dilated for a second as she took notice of her state she stared at her feet, her hands now clasped at her sides like she usually did whenever she tried to regain her strength, fingers still tingling due to her magic.

She was about to ask the question once again when the brunette grabbed the sheet and covered her body with it, the fabric still showing curves Emma’s subconscious had already memorized but allowing her a little more of freedom. Tilting a defiant head and rising her chin as she looked towards Emma the brunette seemed about to smirk when she noticed the way Emma’s eyes raked down her boy.

“Something you want to say?” She asked, her voice changing from a mutter to a satisfied rumble. The thought made Emma remember the actual mystery and she felt her body tense, her magic coming back in full force as she prepared herself for any possible fight. The woman certainly seemed lost and she couldn’t pin point any trace of malevolence coming from her but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t in danger.

“What are you doing here?” She blurted, the question about her naked state hovering over the two of them as she tried to take into the most threating stance as possible.

As an answer the brunette rolled her eyes and crossed one leg over the other, the sheet ensemble riling up her thigh as she did so. Trying her best not to stare Emma hardened her stare, trying to keep herself as professional as possible.

“I’m the cat” The brunette stated simply, raising a hand and pointing at the where the leather collar still hung as if it was obvious. “A cursed one at least. And you seem to have find the way to make me recover my actual form”

“So you aren’t a familiar” Emma stated slowly, the actions of the black cat starting to make sense, how it had looked strangely far too human. How she had had the feeling of being watched by it.

The brunette snorted, shaking her head as she did so, arms crossed over her chest, leg still over the other. If it hadn’t been for the sheet Emma could picture her on some kind of throne, ready to impart justice like some of the books she had been forced to read back on her days as an Apprentice.

“Sorry to disappoint dear but I’m afraid I’m just human”

“Not magical?” The blonde asked for clarification as she stepped slightly closer to the woman. The brunette narrowed her eyes once before shaking her head once. “I prefer the term sorceress” She admitted while raising a shoulder. “My specialty is… was, pyromagic. Before I was cursed at least”

Emma that last bit of information for later and took a step backwards, sitting on the edge of the desk as she did so. Curses were complicated, tricky to cast and even trickier to get rid of one. It didn’t seem possible that just by buying the woman she had been able to lift the curse.

“But enough of that” The brunette said forcefully, seeming to read Emma’s train of thought as she narrowed her eyes, seeming very much alike her cat persona for a second. “I know I’m missing something else but I don’t really have much else but my memories”

“What’s your name?” Emma settled on asking, her voice still soft but firmer now that the initial shock was starting to fade. She wasn’t still sure that the brunette wasn’t actually planning on hurting her but there was very little she could do for now. However, the apparent harmless question made the woman blanche for a second. Her lips curled in distaste as she took a deep breath, her posture changing from something close to guarded to tense, as if she was already readying herself for a blown.

“Regina, Regina Mills”

The name sounded strange on Emma’s ears, stilled, but she let it pass, the surname and name not ringing any bell on her memory.

“Have you been… cursed for a long time?” She asked then, the curious part of her, the one she used in order to work, taking control. Gone was the awkwardness that the situation brought with it and as she watched at the now renamed woman she felt more in her element than before.

Regina pursed her lips and didn’t answer at that, a vague glint of anguish seeming to appear before she suffocated it. “I would like to not talk about it” She finally answered, her voice thick as she started to rose. “I don’t know if whatever has happened is permanent or not or if I will be transformed back into a cat in a few hours so if you don’t mind…I certainly have things to do before that happens.”

As she walked past Emma in direction to the already open door Emma’s hands shot up to grab her, the movement only causing for the brunette to look at her warily, a hint of a warning coming out of her in furious waves.

“Don’t you dare to touch me” She spilled, her voice turning to cold venom as she stood as tall as she was. Emma was still taller than her but the blonde realized that it didn’t seem like that; the brunette’s presence changing within her owner.

Raising her hands and showing up her palms the blonde bit down her bottom lip. “I just want to help you; I have the feeling that going out like this won’t actually aid your idea. Whatever that is. So what are you going to do?”

Regina’s eyes seemed to narrow until they were just two slits, pupils glowing behind thick eyelashes. “Why do you want to help me? Why do you care?”

Emma felt the irritation starting to pile up; she certainly wasn’t a monster and wasn’t planning on leaving a naked woman on her doorstep but there were limits. “I just don’t think that walking alone and naked in the middle of the night will make you any favors. If you are really a cursed person we can talk about it tomorrow with caffeine on our veins and better light. And clothes.”

Regina was staring at her warily and for a moment Emma thought that sorceress or not she was about to being killed but then the fury and anger that seemed to fuel the brunette’s skittishness seemed to disappear. With a curt nod the brunette turned for one more time.

“I will take the couch”

She was about to exit the room when Emma’s voice echoed inside the place once again, the blonde shifting her weight from one leg to the other as she talked. “If Hen… if my son comes before I do and sees you just tell him that you are a client or something, okay?”

“I don’t know what kind of half-naked people you let walk in but I don’t think it’s sanitary” The brunette retorted quickly. Before Emma could answer to that jibe she amended it with another nod and a hum, her hair falling around her face, tresses casting shadows on her cheekbones as she did so. “I will be up before he is, don’t worry”

As soon as she was gone Emma threw herself over the bed, muttering curses as she realized that Regina had left her without sheets.

The whole idea was ridiculous; a witch turned into a cat. It wasn’t unheard of, of course, curses and transformations gone bad were pretty common, but the actual thing of having a cursed person revert back to their human persona didn’t exactly match the idea of a curse. The thought alone was preposterous and as Emma moved and tossed on her bed the glint of the leather collar caught her eyes: perhaps that could be a clue.

Or not.

With that last thought she finally fell asleep, oblivious to a particular and equally restless brunette who was clutching the sheet around her body as tight as she could as her eyes jumped from one object to the other in the middle of her living room. She didn’t feel asleep until much, much later than Emma had done.

* * *

Emma woke up far more quickly than she had done a few hours before once the light became far too much of a nuisance to ignore it. As she rose from her bed, wincing as she realized that she was indeed still on the same clothes than the day before, memories of her nighttime talk came back to her. Touching the mattress where the cat -and then the woman- had been proved to be fruitless as she didn’t find anything and so she rose, her feet cold against the carpeted floor.

Picking up the collar she stared at it, trying to scare the last bits of sleep away from her clouded brain as she did so; the collar, while still as thick and heavy as she remembered from the day before, didn’t seem to be enchanted and no rune or writing seemed to stand out.

“This is ridiculous” Her brain provided while she put the collar back on its place. How many possibilities she had of having bought a familiar that was indeed a cursed woman? It was even more plausible to have just dreamt the whole thing.

With that final thought she snapped her digits and clothed herself, mentally listing the things she would need to do in order to recreate a tracking potion without actually making one. The fairy ring she had been reading about yesterday seemed good enough and so she entered in the apartment’s kitchen already looking at her phone, trying to remember the number of a fairy she had previously helped a few months ago. Mortal inventions, albeit not commonly used by magical creatures, certainly could come in handy.

Her phone and resolve, however, crumbled when she saw a black feline seated on top of one of the kitchen stools with a neatly folded bedsheet behind her paws while looking at her in the same calculating way she had seen on a certain brunette the night before.  

The sight of the cat and the sheet brought back the partying words of the seemingly very real brunette the night before _“I will be up before he does_ ”

It was preposterous, she tried to reason with herself, but as she looked at the cat and the way the feline tilted her head she found herself licking her lips and crouching until she was looking directly at those brown eyes.

“Regina?” She whispered quietly to only being answered by what seemed to be an angry mewl and something far too close to a nod.

Emma had found herself in many interesting situations through her adult life; she still could remember the day she had met a certain and particular Doctor who defended that Frankenstein’s monster was easy to replicate from the books with only a tad of necromagic. It was an experiment Emma certainly didn’t have any rush on knowing more about it. However, as used to deal with the strange and colorful, the moment she saw the minute nod from the black cat a part of her brain stopped, apparently unsure of how to proceed next.

It wasn’t a lost werewolf roaming in the middle of the streets but still.

Stuttering and still not entirely convinced that she wasn’t being the end of some kind of joke the blonde repeated the question, this time trying to focus not only on the feline’s eyes but the rest of it; the cat, however, eyed her as if she was some kind of idiot and yawned, deep eyes leaving Emma’s and focusing on something at the back of the woman who- far too late- heard the muffled yawn of none other but Henry, his bleary and sleep-induced eyes looking at her confusedly when she turned to look at him hastily.

“Are you talking to the cat? Has grandma talked you into it?”

The question elicited something that seemed very much like a questioning growl from the cat… from Regina, as Emma found herself shaking her head and quickly going towards the furthest cupboard from the cat, her fingers quickly grabbing two cups from it.

“I was trying new names on her” She amended while handing one cup to Henry who gladly grabbed it, his other hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“That’s good” The boy murmured still half-asleep. His hands were stained with dark ink and when Emma turned to look at him she noticed that also a few drops were staining the boy’s oversized t-shirt in which he slept.

“Practicing again?” She pointed out as she grabbed the coffee machine and looking at it noticing far too late that she had forgotten to ready it the night before. With a growl she touched the surface of the machine and channeled her magic to it. Nothing could compare to a really made coffee but she had the feeling that she was going to need any help she could pick. “You know you shouldn’t…”

“I didn’t do anything” The boy replied defensively while sitting in the stool next to Regina, the feline… or the woman Emma thought while turning around once more, seemed to look warily at him but didn’t budge. “I just wanted to test the consistency of the new ink, the runes were taking too long to imprint on the pages”

Emma hummed and rustled the boy’s hair as she served him some coffee before doing the same with herself. Her mother had insisted that Henry was still far too young to drink the beverage but the kid loved it and she didn’t really want to fight about something as stupid as the caffeinated drink.

“Still, try to not overexert yourself”

Henry grumbled something that seemed like a nod and Emma sighed inwardly; it wasn’t like she had been excellent on her own years as an Apprentice. Drinking the coffee while eyeing the cat that was now resting with her eyes half-closed and still on top of the sheet, she focused on the problem she had at hand; her.

For what she knew the woman she had seen the night before -she tried not to blush at the image of the naked woman once again- could have been just a product of her imagination, a hex or a simple spell. However, the almost human traits the cat perched on top of her bedsheet displayed were far too many to just relegate the possibility to the back of her mind and she certainly did want to know a little more about the apparently cursed sorceress that habited the animal.

First thing that came to her mind as she pretended to listen to Henry’s intel about his new achievements with his ink and spells -which he normally droned on for a few hours- was the collar that had dragged her attention the night before. The collar didn’t have any visible runes or charms but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t take any clue from it. If the cat was simply a familiar the collar would be a simple collar with the mark of a random manufacturer on it, if the cat was really something else and the night before had certainly been real then she could try her luck on trying to link it with at least someone who had known that they were putting a collar to an enchanted being. Which led her to Mr. Gold.

The creepy perspective of seeing the man once again didn’t thrill her but she couldn’t stop her mind to going back to the cold smile he had directed at her while muttering how fascinating cats were as familiars. The man certainly seemed to be hiding something.

“Earth calling… Ma, you there?” Henry’s voice carried her back to reality, the seeming amused eyes of a certain feline the second thing she noticed as the kid stood and picked his empty mug, Emma still grabbed onto hers but the cold touch against her fingertips told her that the beverage was already far too cold to enjoy it properly.

“Sorry kid” The blonde found herself saying while directing her gaze to the teen. The boy shrugged and shook his head. “I was… thinking”

“I’m sorry that you lost the tracking potion” Henry replied back, busying himself cleaning his cup and apparently thinking that his mother’s thoughts were with the vanished tonic “I know you told us that you needed to finish it before going but you seemed convinced and Aunt Ruby didn’t want to lose the opportunity”

Emma frowned for a second before remembering once again the case she was supposed to be focusing on. Taking a sip of the cold coffee and standing as she proved that -in fact- it couldn’t be saved, she approached Henry while she saw from the her peripheral vision how Regina… the cat? Leapt from the table and approached the two of them, apparently interested on their conversation.

“I… don’t worry, I will use another thing. I was merely thinking on what to do” The words, the ones she didn’t say, sat heavily on the back of her mouth and a part of her wondered why she didn’t told Henry the fact that their familiar could perfectly be a cursed sorceress. The reason behind that was simply that the thought, albeit plausible, still didn’t sit well on Emma’s psyche; Henry had just a few days before going away, the possibility of losing any spare time she could have with the thought of a cat transforming into a human…

Still, the possibility was something that irked her mind and so her brain didn’t stop with what she needed to do. Or which who she needed to talk.

“And there you go again” The boy said with a look that seemed to tell her that he knew there was something else she wasn’t telling him. As a boy Henry had been adamant to always say, know and share the truth, specially once the thing with his father had been still fresh on his mind. With time the boy had learnt that not always truth was a desirable thing to know but he still got a look that Emma had learnt to loath whenever he felt lied to. “I will be with Grace today, okay? She wanted to teach me a few tea-reading techniques she has been practicing”

“Yes…” Emma replied absently before focusing on what Henry was saying. “But don’t come back late, okay? ”

Henry rolled his eyes and turned, apparently ready to leave the kitchen. Before he did though, a thought stroke Emma’s mind. “Wait, who told you about Mr. Gold’s shop? Is not near the ones we usually go to”

Henry looked at her with a curious glint on his eyes but something on Emma’s eyes must have told him that his mother wasn’t going to tell him nothing since he merely answered, hands at his back as he slouched on the doorjamb. “It was Grace’s father, he listened to us when I was telling Grace about… familiars and he told me that it was a good place to look. He said that his own familiar came from that shop”

Emma vaguely remembered a white bunny that has been prowling around one of the last times she had go to pick up Henry from Grace’s house a few years ago and she shuddered when she saw, almost as if she was seeing them again, the red-rimmed eyes of the intelligent animal on her mind’s eye.

“Are you planning on returning there?” The boy asked curiously while frowning, his eyes going towards the cat who had been intently listening to them the whole time from her position at their feet. Emma followed his gaze and looked at the seemingly interesting and suddenly terror-filled eyes of the animal. Apparently, cursed or not, the cat recognized Gold’s name. “I thought you liked Morgana”

“Yes, I like her” Emma replied off-handily, trying to appear nonchalant, the growl that came from the cat making her hide a smirk. Nope, not a Morgana “I was curious”

Apparently satisfied with that answer Henry exited the kitchen, his door being closed soon after following his footsteps.

“Alright” Emma muttered while crouching in front of the cat “Let’s see if you are really a cursed human”

The cat gagged, eyes flashing annoyed.

“And I’m talking to her again” Emma murmured with a sigh. It was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Hello there. I just wanted to say that I feel completely humbled by the response this little fic has gotten and that I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post more of it before. Between the Halloween series I did back in October and the fact that I’m participating also on the 25daysofSQ I didn’t have the time to properly spend it on this story and I didn’t want to give a subpar chapter because of it.   
> I hope that with this chapter a few of your questions will start being answered and please, comment and review. I want to know what you think about this! In case you also want to ask any headcanon about this world I’m also on Tumblr and on twitter under this same nickname so please come and talk, I won’t bite… much ;)  
> Enough for me, thank you so so much once again…. On with the story!

“Thank you Astrid.” Emma said while already half-closing the door of the little apartment the fairy lived in. The kind face of the magical been -slightly flushed- broke into a grin as she waved goodbye to the blonde whose hand was closed around a little ring. Its light seeped between her closed fingers in a dim golden light and she could feel the power of it pulsing against her hand in a steady beat. “I own you one.”

“Don’t worry Emma.” The fairy replied promptly, as Emma knew she will do, before the door was tightly closed in front of her, the smell of honey and spice getting trapped inside the place as it had been when Emma had knocked on the carved door a good half an hour before.

The problem with the fairies, the blonde reflected as she turned, descending the stairs in groups of two, was that something around them made the time seem to go slower. The non-magical tales of humans being trapped inside fairy’s dances were common precisely because the fairies themselves lived and processed time differently than the rest. That’s why almost every warlock, witch, sorceress or whatever kind of magic practitioner, preferred to avoid making any kind of deal with the fairies; one never knew how much it could really cost them to simply have a little chat with one of them.

Astrid has been one of Emma’s confidents ever since she had helped a few years ago and albeit the first time Emma had discovered herself leaving the fairy’s side a good twelve hours later than when she had started to talk with her she had become more attuned with how much time she could and couldn’t spend with the sweet woman. Besides, she surmised as she finally came out to the light of midday, her eyes quickly narrowing as she navigated between the ever-passing people that filled the streets, the prizes for being able to befriend a fairy always surpassed anything a magic practitioner could ever do.

Having the question about her tracking spell already answered, Emma considered going back to her own apartment and start with the spell. She had exited her place t after looking uncomfortably to the cat- Regina-  for a good couple of minutes before sighing and picking her keys.  The cat’s eyes following the movement before mewling once, seeming not so happy to be left alone.

“I will be back in a few.” She had promised to the silent place, eyes never leaving the feline’s.  The cat had looked at her almost as regally as the brunette woman from the previous night had done and had turned, back as straight as ever and seemingly not wanting to spend any more time with the blonde.

“Suit yourself” Emma had grumbled before closing the door of her apartment behind her.

That had been a few hours ago and already with the fairy ring on her power and at least not as lost as before she considered the idea of finishing the job before starting with what she had shyly called “Operation Feline” inside her head. The thought on itself of having something that wasn’t a familiar inside her home was on itself complicated already to wrap one’s head around but considering what she knew and didn’t she had resolved to at least try to find an explanation for the cat itself.

Sighing and making a sharp turn towards her left she walked towards one small street, one that almost no-magical being would be able to enter or see if they didn’t look closely for it. Glamours had been explained ad nausea in many different non-magical books but they still provided a very strong hide-out place to some magical beings.

The three-store apartment complex Emma found herself standing in front of after a few minutes of dodging people and walking as quickly as possible was well-kept but looked as if it had seen better days and as Emma smiled to the odd-looking woman that opened the main door of the complex she was sure of tucking carefully the ring even more inside her pocket.

“Is Ruby here?” She asked politely, the housekeeper looking at her from head to toe like she normally did with the keen eyes of the seer she was.

“She was out with that friend of yours a few hours ago.” The woman replied in a very strong accent as succinctly as possible, clearly not wanting to do anything with her.

Of course, Emma thought while mentally slapping herself. The job Ruby had talked about the day before.

“Could you give her a message?” She asked then, smiling sweetly as the old woman seemed to consider it.

“I could.” She finally said over a dry smile Emma shuddered at.

“Tell her to call me back once she is able to, okay?” The woman hummed before closing the door in front of Emma’s nose, no bothering to say goodbye before doing so.

The blonde shrugged; she had wanted to talk with the brunette before going back to Gold’s shop, a place she had considered the best to start asking around about the possible cursed woman, but she could always talk to her once she was back in town. Turning once again to the busy streets of the city she found herself playing with the fairy ring between her fingers, the delicate threaded thing glowing slightly harder as she did so.

Sighing, she shoved it back on her pocket and walked faster, leaving behind as many people as possible while grabbing her car keys from her other pocket. Slow as it could be she didn’t like apparating, the transfer always leaving her dizzy. Plus, with a magical bomb like the ring could on itself be she really didn’t want to risk any chances on blowing herself up just because her magic got mixed up with the rings. Turning another corner, she sighed at the sight of her trusty yellow bug. Shoving the keys on the car’s door she stepped in while already picking a small leather pouch from the shotgun’s side. The pouch had several runes written on it. Runes that glowed when she put the fairy ring inside and as she put the pouch back to the passenger’s seat she finally relaxed, the last bits of fairy dust falling from her fingers, staining the steering wheel with their glow.

One thing less to do, she thought while calculating the time she would need to before reaching the magic market. Annoyed, she thrummed her fingers against the wheel as she started the engine of the car, a whirl of dark white magic following the movement for a second before dissolving into thin air.

Rolling her eyes, she took a deep breath, eliciting her magic to turn from the rivulet of power to the lazy dribbling she was accustomed to. She still didn’t know why she didn’t only release the apparently cursed woman into the streets or talked to someone better prepared for that sort of thing- Ruby certainly would know someone, or perhaps even Mulan- but something inside of her (A mix of curiosity and pride) kept her wanting to discover it herself. Plus, she thought while finally lining her bug alongside with the many others that circulated lazily through the busy city streets, the woman had… Spiked her curiosity.

Biting the inside of her cheek and shaking her head she grasped the steering wheel once again and cleared her throat. A quick stop into Gold’s shop. Then she would consider everything once again.

-.-

It turned out that Gold didn’t exactly want to answer any questions she may have wanted to ask. The slimy man had been seated behind the large counter she had paid for the cat the day before, seemingly absorbed by a large book in which number upon number was written with dark green ink that seemed to glow slightly on the dark atmosphere of the shop. Accustomed as she was due to Henry’s experiments with strange ink Emma’s nape hairs stood up just slightly as the man had looked at her once before closing the book with one low thud.

“How may I help you?” He had asked, eyes glinting as he smirked at her. Emma had fiddled with the cord that, tightly knotted around her wrist, seemed to burn against her skin as she had stood as tall as she was while looking around from the corners of her eyes. The shop was deserted, pretty much like it had been the day before, and animals and trinkets alike seemed to look at her from their cages, seeming curious for the newcomer.

“It’s about a cat I bought here” She said while approaching the counter and trying to seem nonchalant with her surroundings. Gold’s eyes never left her face as she moved and the blonde felt uncomfortable, as if the aura of the man seemed to move on his own accord. “Perhaps you don’t remember me…”

“The woman with the boy and the werewolf, yes.” Rumple replied with a curt nod, the way he spited the word werewolf enough to make Emma’s skin crawl.

“She has a name.” She replied as curtly as Gold, her upper lip curling in disgust as she momentarily forgot what she was doing there. She usually was more controlled in front of people she tried to learn anything from but the hate embedded on the man’s voice hadn’t been something she had been expecting.

“I’m sure of it.” The sleazy man replied, his hands falling limply at his sides as he came out of the other side of the counter, his body casting a large, dusty shadow on top of it. Emma’s eyes moved towards the shadow, sensing once again the power the old man seemed able to yield. It was considered inappropriate to ask a magic wielder what kind of branch they’ve been specialized on but Emma’s tongue played with both the question and the possibility of a different sets of magic users. None of them exactly friendly. The man’s voice, however, led her out of her musings. “However I have the impression that you aren’t here to discuss your friend’s name, are you?”

Emma hummed before squaring her shoulders, her curled hands glowing ever so slightly as small tendrils of magic oozed out of her skin only to be swallowed by her body once again.

“It’s about the familiar” She said, voice sharp and resounding against the walls of the shop, the sound startling even herself as it came more forcefully than what she had intended to. The man didn’t move, beckoning Emma to continue with one lazy movement of his left hand. “Where did you get it?”

The man’s eyes seemed to glow ever so slightly before he smiled placidly, his gesture changing to one Emma had seen many times before: lies. “I’m afraid I don’t understand the question Miss Swan, is there any problem with the animal I provided?”

Emma looked at the man, calculating what were the odds for the man to actually been fishing for intel. Considering the magic aura that still oozed out of him, one Emma could still feel around her, sticking to hers like a bad-mouthed hex, she swallowed thickly before crossing her arms in front of her, her frame widening ever so slightly with the movement. “I’ve asked you a question.” She said sternly.

“One I’ve already told you I don’t understand.” The man repeated while shrugging. “I can assure that my shop is within the law and I have all the permits. The cat you bought owns all of them as well. So what’s the problem?”

Emma growled inwardly. Her gut was telling her to keep pushing since the man was obviously hiding something. However, she didn’t have anything to keep pressing and if Gold didn’t want to tell her a thing she couldn’t exactly force it out of him without causing trouble. Magical fights were prohibited though and something in the man’s presence didn’t exactly scream equal fight.

“You are hiding something.” Emma replied through clenched teeth to what Gold replied with a shrug, one hand already resting on top of the counter’s surface, long wrinkled digits tapping against the wood impatiently.

“Dear, everybody is hiding something.” With some eerie smile the vendor pointed to the door’s shop. “And unless you want to buy something I suggest you to go.”

-.-

Henry was already home when Emma closed the door behind her, one hand holding the pouch in which the fairy ring still waited, the other one leaving the keys of the apartment next to the door as she rested her head against the hard surface of the door. Leather jacket still on Emma opened her eyes just in time to see the boy come out of the living room, book on hand and a set of feline eyes at her feet. She did her best to avoid those as she walked towards the kitchen, the fairy ring beating against the palm of her hand as she took it out, the magic it emanated growing steadily against her as she plucked the cauldron for the tray she had had it until then. Throwing the ring into it and whispering a quick spell that made the cauldron glow silver Emma closed her eyes for a second before turning to look at her son, the boy now leaning against the doorframe, the still “unnamed” feline way too close to him.

“You are early.” Emma commented as her eyes fell into the book the boy was holding to. Tea-reading. “Grace’s?” She asked, pointing to the book. The boy hummed from his place at the door.

“You asked me to come home early.” He reminded her and Emma felt the bitter feeling of anger as she realized that she, in fact, had. It was still mid-afternoon and she had been away for longer periods of time before with Henry already grown enough to fence for himself but the realization always struck her. “Everything okay?”

“I needed to ask for a fairy favor.” She replied offhandedly, trying her best to hide her remorse as she thought on the lost time. The boy’s eyes, however, pierced through her and so she rose her right hand, ruffling the teen’s hair affectionately before she walked past him, her feet carrying her to the living room. The fairy ring’s power wouldn’t be depleted until a few more hours or so and she didn’t really have anything else to do meanwhile.

The living room was as functional as Emma’s room was chaotic. Probably because until Henry the blonde hadn’t exactly thought on it to be anything but that. A ratty old coach and a small tea table occupied the center of the room where several magic objects and videogames could be seen here and there. Emma had never wanted to make her apartment look like some of the houses cliché’s witches or mages had on those awful urban fantasy books she had seen Henry sometimes read at and she had more or less managed that… with a few exceptions.

Sitting herself at the couch she eyed the boy when he entered in the room right behind her, book now nowhere in sight. The cat… Regina, she mentally scolded herself, leaping from the floor to the tea table in which she stood as unmoving as a statue and with eyes that seemed to look and shred Emma to nothing as she stared down at the blonde.

“She has been like that ever since I arrived. Seems like she is waiting for something.” The boy supplied while sitting next to Emma, elbows on her knees. The ink stains from that morning could be seen from where his shirt riddled up his forearms and although they were almost washed by now they still could be seen.  Emma focused on that as she thought furiously.

A part of her wanted to tell Henry about the possibly cursed woman they both had bought the day before. The boy could probably feel very strongly about telling the truth but Emma as well had been adamant on basing their relationship with trust. However, she also felt that the cat’s secret -if she wasn’t going crazy that is and if Gold’s behavior was any clue was that she possibly wasn’t- was only hers to tell.

There was also the fact that she wanted to spend her time with her son before he was gone. Ruby had been right on the fact that she always missed him terribly, no matter how much she told herself otherwise. Mulling over it the blonde tugged at the cord at her wrist a few times, her mind going back and forth to the moment Gold had accompanied her to the door only to close it at her back with the ominous words of “And don’t come back if you don’t want to buy anything.” Resonating at her back.

She truly hoped that the man rot on hell.

“I think…” She finally spoke, deciding to keep her silence for a few more hours at least, an idea already forming on its mind about the leather collar. “I think I already have a name for her kid.”

If Henry sensed that Emma had been about to say something different than that he didn’t show. However, he looked at her expectantly.

“How about Regina?” Emma asked, eliciting a soft mewl from the cat as well as a thoughtful nod from the boy.

“Regina it is then.”

-.-

“C’mon, c’mon…” Emma whispered to the cauldron as the potion bubbled, transforming itself from red to pink only to change to a deep shade of purple that finally settle on something close to blue. The power of the ring had been depleted less than an hour ago and since then Emma had tried to keep the power steady enough for the potion to stabilize itself enough for her to cast the final spell. Henry had been with her almost through all the evening while doing so, his help reduced to the occasional ingredient measuring Emma would need along the process.

The boy had been fascinated with magic the moment he had been met with such world and after everything both Emma and himself had lived she always found herself misty-eyed with that. However, he had never shown any link to the magic the blonde performed and so his help with the kind of magic Emma did-the one that wasn’t exactly taught and one that was based almost on the blonde’s gut and own knowledge- had been cut short ever since he had shown potential and will to become a scribe, one of the few kind of practitioners that could actually change reality in the way magicians were considered to be able on the non-magic books and films.

“You think dad would have been proud?” He had asked her once; the first time he had go as an Apprentice. Emma had nodded that night and had hugged him as close as possible.

“I’m sure of it kiddo”

Those memories were now on the past though and Henry, albeit he knew the theory behind what Emma was trying to recreate, had grown bored of it and had soon enough asked between yawns if he could go to his bed. A selfish part of Emma had wanted to ask him to stay but she had known that she quite couldn’t ask something like that and for it she had kissed the boy’s forehead when he had come closer to her, his lap still covered in small black hairs from Regina. The woman, cursed or not, had been quite a convincing feline falling asleep on the teen’s lap and Emma had found herself glance curiously at the look-alike familiar as she napped. The image had made her smile.

The cat was now perched atop one of the few books Emma had decided to check out while she had been waiting for the potion to settle in, all of them regarding curses and theoretical approaches to magic Emma’s inner teen cringed at. So far the search for any kind of answer regarding the origin of the leather collar had proved to infructuous and Emma had been thinking on actually going back to Gold’s no matter the late hour when the potion had started to transform itself into foam.

“Don’t you dare…” She said while white tendrils wrote incantations on the air between herself and the fog that now covered the surface of the half-melted potion. Atop of everything else she needed the potion and she really didn’t have any more days. As the clock ticked by, next to midnight, she transferred all her will and frustration into the potion, silently commending to keep stable under the look of the cat; her feline face contorted into something Emma had the feeling it was mockery. Or at least disbelief.

It wasn’t like she really knew the woman. She thought surly as she turned towards the potion once more, smiling as she saw the fog and foam begin to dissipate. Such thought had just entered her mind when the clock chimed 12:00.

“Annnd... done!” She proclaimed just in time for a purple glow blind her briefly.

“If you really think that potion is done I’m really concerned on what kind of help you can really grant me.” She heard, a voice and tone she had been unable to forget about ever since the day before.


End file.
